


The Gift of Giving

by IllegalCerebral



Series: Criminal Minds Christmas Fics [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Gift Giving, Hell of a year, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 04:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12951249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllegalCerebral/pseuds/IllegalCerebral
Summary: Each member of the BAU has a different approach to buying gifts for their teammates.





	The Gift of Giving

Garcia prided herself on being the best gift giver on the team and Christmas was the epitome of gift giving goodness. Typically she started the actual buying process some time in September but if she saw something earlier in the a year that was perfect she would buy it and save it. It wasn’t just the gift, it was the handmade cards, the exquisite and intricate wrapping and the actual act of giving. It was more like performance art than present giving.

* * *

Spencer always took his time with gifts and usually liked to give people things that were useful or informative in some way. This year however, things were different. Last Christmas he had been too distracted with his mother’s illness to spend the time on shopping for things that would really mean something to the people he loved. Adding to that the worry and stress he had put them through with what happened in Mexico and he was overcome with guilt that was spurring him on to go all out this year.

* * *

It wasn’t cheating. Definitely not. Every year in November JJ would pick a free weekend and set up the kitchen table with glitter, stickers, paper, pipe cleaners and ink stamps and the boys would go all out making cards, decorations and jazzing up wrapping paper. She and Will would help of course, particularly as Michael was still little and they would spend the whole day getting messy and laughing until there were cards for every member of the BAU and some eye-wateringly bright paper to wrap up the little trinkets JJ had bought.

* * *

The way to a person’s heart was their stomach and so Rossi’s gifts were always edible. It was amazing how quickly he could make seven panettone as well as trays of marzipan slices. The best gifts weren’t things however, as he explained to his assistant as they were weighing out the ingredients.

“You get what I’m saying kid?”

“People prefer experiences rather than material objects” said Reid, his tongue poking out at he tipped the flour onto the scales. For someone with degrees in chemistry, he was rather slapdash with measurements “Actually they did a study where-”

“No kid that’s not what I’m saying” said Rossi, softly “I’m saying you don’t have anything to make up for. Not with us”

* * *

Tara revealed a formerly hidden talent for crochet. She preferred thick, fluffy yarn to make scarves for everybody and spent hours making sure she got the right colours for everyone.

At the end of a long day she would turn the radio to the station that played old classics and would sit, humming along as she worked. With each stitch she would mutter a little prayer to keep the people she loved safe, as if she could weave protection into every fibre.

* * *

When he was with the IRT they had always got each other joke presents and Matt wasn’t sure whether to keep up the tradition now he had joined the BAU. Garcia he knew would be all for it and he suspected Luke, JJ and Tara would be down for it too but not the others.

Eventually he split the difference and got one joke present and one serious present. Emily in particular loved the little water pistol and had to be told by Cruz to stop bringing it to inter departmental budget meetings.

* * *

Luke always signed his Christmas cards from himself and Roxy. Gift wise he was king of the gift basket as he always found it impossible to narrow down what he wanted to get people. The ideal gift basket had at least one soft item, one edible item, one bottle of alcohol, an item to make you laugh, something for when you are sad and something to perk you up.

Then the whole thing would be colour coded, matching the shredded paper to the big ribbon he tied around it and the giant gift tag. Like Garcia he also started his shopping around September.

* * *

Emily bought people alcohol. Always


End file.
